What It’s About: Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) comes to Tombstone to retire from his life as a lawman and gunfighter, but soon runs into trouble in the form of the Clantons and their allies…

Why Watch it Today?: The famous gunfight took place today in 1881, inspiring countless films, including My Darling Clementine and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral among others. Tombstone features an outstanding cast (including Val Kilmer killing it as Doc Holiday and Sam Elliott as Wyatt’s older brother Virgil), some nice gunplay and quotable dialogue.

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3 comments on “October 26th, 2013: Tombstone”

Heh. I can’t watch ANY film about that shootout with a straight face thanks to that eternally stupid original Star Trek episode with the same gunfight and those crazy camera angles. I caught Tombstone a few weeks back On Demand and I kept hearing that music from the Trek episode in my head and was cracking up laughing almost the whole time.

That said, The Long Riders is still my Western for the 80’s and I think Unforgiven was my 90’s pick, but this one’s up there as well for that decade…

I guess I should be grateful that I don’t remember that episode…but I do remember the god awful episode of Dr. Who that probably predates it and has William Hartnell mistaken for Doc Holliday….

That’s a tough question. I guess my favorite 80’s Western is Pale Rider…but I haven’t seen The Long Riders yet, though it’s been on my list forever. 90s I would probably agree that Unforgiven was the best though Dead Man is an interesting Weird Western, just like for the 80s, it might not have been good, but Lone Wolf McQuade was one hell of a fun whatever the hell genre it was. It’s funny, though, thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve seen this or Unforgiven in 20 years, or Dances with Wolves for that matter.

I almost put in a link to a clip from that Trek episode, but I didn’t want you haunted by its awfulness. And yeah, I do recall that Who episode… yikes. Definitely see The Long Riders, as you’ll see where Tombstone got some of its bite from (and it’s a pretty solid job from Walter Hill). It’s one of those films where the gimmick casting of actual brothers works, the violence is pretty realistic and it’s one of those films you’ll wish was longer than it turned out because it covers a lot of ground before the end credits.

Pale Rider I love as well, Dead Man was definitely a fun watch (and would make an interesting double feature with that Lone Ranger film when it’s out on Blu-Ray just to see the role reversal for Depp). Dances With Wolves is something to set time aside to see. It’s definitely interesting on a few fronts. I still haven’t decided whether or not I like it after a few viewings (because I’m crazy like that about some films). I actually haven’t seen Lone Wolf other than catching the last half hour or so on cable once and laughing because yeah, it’s fun in a goofy way I didn’t expect. Guess I’ll need to see the rest one of these days…